e served his country until the
victory of Yorktown was won and peace was declared. And it is easy to
believe that this gallant soldier who was one of the first to volunteer
at Great Bridge, and who fought so bravely in many of the sharpest
struggles of the great conflict, would not have been willing to lay
down his arms until his country was freed from the power that had so
long held it in thrall.

So we can imagine him following Greene in his retreat across the State,
taking part in the battle of Guilford Courthouse, and possibly present
when the proud Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown.

When the struggle at last had ended, John Koen returned to his home.
During the years of his absence his plantation was managed by William
Temple, whose pretty young daughter, Susannah, soon won the heart of the
brave soldier, and consented to become his bride. After some years of
happy married life, the young wife died, and a few years later we find
John Koen making a second marriage, his bride being Christian Hollowell,
of Perquimans County.

Owing to his gallant conduct in the Revolutionary War, John Koen, a few
years after the war was over, was appointed Colonel of the militia in
Pasquotank County, and the government awarded him a pension, which was
paid until his death in 1840.

CHAPTER XII

GENERAL ISAAC GREGORY, A REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER OF PASQUOTANK-CAMDEN

During the War of the Revolution, the Albemarle Region, though
threatened with invasion time and again by the British, seldom heard the
tread of the enemy's army, or felt the shock of battle. For this
immunity from the destruction of life and property, such as the citizens
whose homes lay in the path of Cornwallis and Tarleton suffered, this
section of North Carolina is largely indebted to General Isaac Gregory,
one of the bravest officers who ever drew sword in defense of his native
home and country.

Both Pasquotank and Camden claim this gallant officer for their son, and
both have a right to that claim; for the two counties were one until
1777. In that year a petition was presented to the General Assembly by
Joseph Jones, of Pasquotank, from citizens living in what is now Camden
County, that the portion of Pasquotank lying on the northeast bank of
the river should be formed into a separate county, and have a
court-house of its own, in order to do away with the inconvenience the
people of that section suffered in having to cross the river to att